The Damariscotta Planning Board anticipated taking a first vote on a sign ordinance during the meeting on Monday, but after town manager review, the sign, for now, is eight-sided and red.

Town Manager Matt Lutkus had looked at the Planning Board’s proposal and turned the more than 12-page proposed ordinance into a little more than six pages, eliminating nearly all of the new regulations for the C-2 region, encompassing most of Business Route 1.

The Planning Board was stunned.

“I don’t even know what to do with this,” Planning Board Chairman Jonathan Eaton said. “I’m going to have to go home, compare these three documents, and see what changes were even made.”

“We live in New England,” Shari Sage, board member, said. “People come into town and expect to see something that looks like New England, and we should try to be more in keeping with that.”

No one was certain why Lutkus had been so critical of the board’s sign ordinance, but all agreed that no vote could happen Monday night.

The one thing the board and the manager had agreed about was the need to restrict changeable illuminated signs. The town already has several of them, including at gas stations, the time and temperature clock, the information sign at the Lincoln County Theatre, and at the Baptist Church at the top of Main Street.  Everyone had agreed that the signs should be text only and not contain graphic images.

But at least one businessman, Rob Gardiner, who owns Damariscotta Hardware on Business Route One, disagreed.

“We can’t expand, because of the size ordinance,” he said. “The only thing we can do is try to advertise to bring in new customers.” He said the graphic signs were a powerful advertising tool.

Another businessman, John Chasse, who owns a small shopping center on Business Route One, objected to the height limit, now set at 20 feet.  His shopping center is home to 12 businesses, and he prefers to have a ladder sign with signs for all the businesses in one location. However, there is not enough room on his 20-foot ladder sign to accommodate all the businesses in the shopping mall.  “I don’t want to have a lot of individual signs on my buildings,” he said. “But my tenants can’t do business here if they can’t have a sign.”

Eaton tabled the vote, and asked Town Planner Anthony Dater to arrange a time when the board could hold a public workshop with Lutkus in attendance. “Maybe he can explain some of what he’s objecting to,” he said.

Dater agreed to set a date, and on Tuesday afternoon, announced that a public workshop would be held on Monday, Feb. 22, at 6 p.m. A public hearing was tentatively scheduled for the next regular meeting of the Planning Board, which would be March 7, with the caveat that additional workshops might be needed.

Lutkus did not return calls for comment by press time.